


Moving Forward in Reverse

by reefasrobot



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, More tags to be added, Post-Canon, Spoilers, Texting, excessive amounts of cameos, spoilers for persona 3 too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-05-16 07:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14807223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reefasrobot/pseuds/reefasrobot
Summary: Akira thought his life was finally returning to something resembling normal, when he moved back to his quiet hometown. The Metaverse had been destroyed, and with it the one person he had failed. That is, until he starts getting strange dreams warning him of coming troubles, and realizes there was more to the Metaverse than he knew. Then Akechi comes back, everything really starts going downhill, and maybe this time he was really in over his head.Alternatively: That one time everything Akira thought he knew was proved wrong, because magical beings suck that way, and Akechi doesn't get to take a break.(currently on hiatus)





	1. End of the Road / New Beginnings

Goro Akechi couldn’t understand Akira Kurusu sometimes. The boy had to be insane, him and all of his little Phantom Thieves. No sane person would be willing to help someone who put a bullet in their head. Not when that person was still actively trying to kill them. It was stupid, potentially suicidal, and yet Kurusu did it anyway. In any other situation, Goro would be dying to know why. In this particular moment though, he was just _dying_.

He glared at his assailant, forcing his hands to stay steady even with the gun pointed at his head. A part of him wondered if this was how Kurusu felt. That face staring at him, eyes nearly apathetic yet full of malice at the same time. Maybe this was what he had truly become. A monster, nothing more than a murderer. Goro was looking at his own face, after all.

He moved his eyes to the being’s hands, watching the finger on the trigger.The cognitive him — Shido’s puppet — grinned at him, despite the wound in its stomach and Goro’s gun aimed at him. “Go on, then,” it goaded, its tone dripping with feigned sweetness. “Shoot me. I have no problem with dying for the Captain’s cause.” It barked out a laugh, as if amused by Goro’s situation. That was what his father wanted, wasn’t it? For him to be a loyal, mindless tool. “Besides, you’ll die too. All alone, abandoned, as trash like you deserve. You know there’s no way out of this.”

Goro ignored the puppet’s words. He wouldn’t give it the satisfaction of seeing him break down. Not because of how his father thought of him. Maybe it was right, but if he was going to be taken down, then he was going down fighting. He would never let his father or his father’s cognitions control him again. “Kurusu, I won’t repeat myself,” he yelled out instead, knowing the Phantom Thieves were still on the other side of the barrier. “Get. Out.” After everything, he couldn’t accept it if they didn’t give Shido what he deserved.

“So, my final enemy is a puppet version of myself…” It was curious. His choices brought him to this moment, and so Goro was about to die at the hands of someone who looked exactly like him. There must be something poetic about it. “Not bad.”

No sounds of movement on the other side yet. “Akechi—“ it was Kurusu, as stubborn and insufferable as always. Please, please just go away.

“Go!” Akechi yelled, and with that, he pulled the trigger.

Twin gunshots rang out through the room. Akechi barely noticed the puppet disappear into smoke as pain ripped through his chest. There might have been yelling, but it took all of his remaining strength and focus to move his aim at the remaining shadows. The Thieves must have left when he was doing so, because the next thing he knew, it was silent save for the alarms blaring in the background.

Alone again. By choice this time though, so maybe that meant something. At the very least, perhaps, someone would miss his presence.

 _You’ve done well_ , a familiar voice said in his mind, as he saw his personas rise into the air. Loki was silent, as he had often been recently, but Robin almost seemed proud. Right. Not completely alone. _Rest now, my Prince._

He was tired. So tired. With the presence of both his personas watching over him, Goro Akechi closed his eyes.

 

* * *

 

Akira Kurusu really couldn’t believe Goro Akechi. He was prepared to hate the other boy, to fight him and defeat him in order to accomplish his goals. He was prepared to fight for him, to convince him that things didn’t have to be this way, because he had spent day after day carefully making his way through Akechi’s layers and came to a conclusion. He wanted to save Goro Akechi, to make sure the boy made it out of the Palace, to take him with the Phantom Thieves as they changed Shido’s heart.

Yet, at the end of the day, Akechi sacrificed himself to save them. He made Akira promise to change Shido’s heart, and then got himself killed helping the Thieves. Somehow, despite his belief in Akechi, Akira hadn’t managed to see that coming. Maybe because some part of him just didn’t see Akechi dying as an option. But it happened, and Akira couldn’t afford to think about it. He blocked it away to give space for the mission, because he had to get it done.

They changed Shido’s heart, and Akira pushed a dead boy out of his head. He pushed away the thoughts of the one he failed to save, because his team still needed him. Akira had to be Joker, leader of the Phantom Thieves. There would be time later.

And so, Joker took over, and despite everything, they changed Shido’s heart. They changed his heart, Akira could get his record cleared, and he kept his promise. It didn’t really sink in until he returned home with Futaba and Morgana throwing anxious glances in his direction. Futaba had always been perceptive, but she had a good reason to resent Akechi for what he had done to her. Still, she sat with him until it was too late and she had to go home. “Be careful,” she whispered as she left the cold attic. “Talk to you later.”

It wasn’t until it was just him and Morgana alone in the attic that Akira spoke. “He was like us,” he whispered. “Someone the adults failed. Maybe if we had met earlier, he wouldn’t have…”

Morgana said nothing. Akira might have been irrational in that moment, letting his feelings take over for him. Logically, he knew there wasn’t much he could have done, not without the ability to turn back time and do things all over again. They were nothing more but maybes. It was because he might have cared about Akechi, and even after they found out what he was truly planning.

“Go to sleep,” Morgana finally said. “We’re not done yet,” he reminded, urging Akira to go to his bed.

Of course. All they’ve gone through, and their job still wasn’t done. Akira was already exhausted, but he knew he had to keep going. His journey was yet to be finished, and he couldn’t do that without taking care of his body. Akira closed his eyes, and let sleep take over.

 

* * *

 

The first thing Goro thought of when he opened his eyes again was the fact that _he should not be opening his eyes again_. He remembered Shido’s Palace and Akira Kurusu, he remembered the cognitive double, he remembered being shot in the chest and closing his eyes for the last time, except that was a lie because here he was, awake when he shouldn’t be. None of his Personas had healing skills, the Thieves had left, he really couldn’t think of a single reason that would let him live, and yet…

“That was close, you know.”

Goro’s head jerked up to meet the source of the voice. It was a boy with dark hair dressed in black and white, save for the yellow scarf wrapped around his neck. He stood at the foot of Goro’s bed in whatever space they were in. His blue eyes met Goro’s and they seemed to twinkle as he continued, “Considering the circumstances though, maybe it was lucky. I might not have been able to pull you out otherwise.”

“Pull me out?” Goro echoed, still unable to make any sense of the situation. His eyes darted around the room, but it offered him no information. The room was a simple rectangular room, bare safe for the bed he was on and a couch pushed up against the wall. There was a single window above the couch, but the curtains were shut so he couldn’t see outside. “Where am I? What… How?”

The boy simply smiled at him. “That’s the question, isn’t it? Let’s just say that you were close enough for me to reach. As for this place, it’s a place for you to recover,” he explained, though Goro didn’t find it particularly helpful.

The stranger laughed upon spotting the displeasure on his face. “Fine,” he said, raising his hands up in surrender. “Wow, you have quite a glare, don’t you? I’m not supposed to push you, but as long as you stay put, I’ll answer.” He sent a pointed look at Goro’s chest. Where the bullet hit. Right.

“You were close to death,” the boy said. “I can’t tell you how exactly, but that let me get to you and take you, bring you here to get better.”

There were things he was holding back, Goro could tell. But something told him pushing wouldn’t do him any good. Something about the boy and this room reminded him of his dreams, of a room bathed in blue and music floating through the air, except without the oppressive feeling that came with the dreams.

One thing still bugged him though. Even pushing aside the fact that this boy was somehow able to pull him out of a palace because he was nearly dead, Goro had no idea what he wanted from him. There was always something. “Why?” Goro whispered, voice coming out shakier than he intended.

The boy tipped his head to the side and smiled once more. “I was doing someone a favor,” he stated, and refused to elaborate any more. “Now, _rest._ ”

The word felt like a command. Maybe it was the boy doing it, or maybe it was just Goro’s body failing him, but at that word, he found consciousness leaving him once more.

 

* * *

 

They won. The group had gone to the depths of Mementos to change the heart of the public, and found the source of the corruption. Akira found out that the Velvet Room had been taken over by a demiurge, that the twins were in fact, actually one person, and wondered if Goro was supposed to get the help he received.

Mementos merged with the real world, it was raining blood, the Phantom Thieves had fought against control, and Akira shot down a god with his persona, which had transformed into Satan.

When you put it like that it sounded like it made no sense, but neither did everything they had been doing for the past year. Stealing hearts, entering the world of cognitions; it all felt hard to believe once it was all over. Still, they had won, and with that victory, the Metaverse had collapsed.

Morgana disappeared and returned again. Nearly another casualty in their fight, and Akira had to idea what he would have done if he truly disappeared for good. He didn’t think he could properly deal with another loss in their group.

Oh, and Akira had gone to jail. There was that.

But now, now everything had come to pass, and Akira found himself back home, in a quiet town, a quiet house, with his ever-distant parents. The rest of the Thieves had forced him to show them around his hometown before they left, unwilling to part with Akira until the last possible moment. It helped, not having to find something to do besides wandering on his own.

At least Morgana was still with him. His parents didn’t really question the cat he brought back from Tokyo with him, and Akira wasn’t about to make them do so. Morgana helped him unpack as much as they could, putting up the various knick-knacks he acquired over the course of the year in his room.

“I’m tired,” Morgana complained, stretching out on the bed. “Akira, just go to sleep for now. We can continue tomorrow.”

He was as bossy as ever. Akira was glad for that. It felt normal, even when his own house didn’t feel like that anymore. His bedroom should have been more comfortable than Leblanc’s attic, but nothing about it really felt like home anymore. He missed Tokyo.

\- - -

When Akira opened his eyes, he prepared himself to see the blue that filled the Velvet Room, but instead found himself in an entirely new place. A classroom, and he was sitting in the center. He glanced out the windows and found a sea of stars, and beyond that…

“Don’t look,” a voice advised, pulling Akira out of his thoughts. Akira looked around the room until he finally noticed the boy sitting on a desk in the corner, and wondered how he didn’t notice him earlier. The boy had blue hair that fell over one of his eyes and wore a uniform he didn’t recognize with headphones hanging around his neck.

He got off the desk and walked towards Akira, weaving his way through the desks in the classroom. “Sorry. This isn’t a really convenient setting, but I figured I should go with some place more common.”

“I wanted to say thank you,” the boy said, finally meeting Akira’s eyes. There was something odd in his gaze that Akira couldn’t really place, something beneath the careful blankness on the surface. “You gave me a chance to rest. Which is why—” The boy glanced out the window and sighed.

Akira frowned. “Is something wrong?” He asked, figuring the boy wouldn’t answer much else. Magical beings rarely do. He kept his eyes on the boy, not looking out the windows like he said to.

The boy shook his head. A smile spread across his lips. He paused and closed his eyes. “Keep in touch with your friends,” he told Akira after several moments. “Make sure you stay close to them, even though you’re not there physically.”

He stood and approached the classroom door. “Until next time,” he said, and Akira could remember nothing more.

 

* * *

 

Goro woke up several times during his stay in the stay in the strange room. Each time, he was alone. He had no idea how much time had passed, being able to see nothing except endless stars outside of the room. The room had no door, so he couldn’t even try to leave. He always ended up just going to sleep, figuring that if the dark-haired boy wasn’t lying to him, he was supposed to stay there until he recovered.

This time though, the boy was back. His eyes seemed even brighter this time, and there was a certain playfulness in how he moved. “It’s safe now,” he announced, sitting at the foot of Goro’s bed. “Time to go.”

Goro blinked. He had gotten used to the routine of waking up briefly and simply returning to sleep that… go back. Right. What would it be like? How long has it been? How would others react to see him back? Should he even return, at this point?

“You’re still needed,” the boy said, as if reading Goro’s thoughts. “It can’t get to you anymore, but you still have things you need to do. You have to be there, this time.Do what you were supposed to do.”

“And what’s that?” Goro asked, getting a little annoyed with the vagueness of his explanations. “What am I supposed to do?”

The boy laughed as he stood and walked towards the door that wasn’t there before. “Shape the fates of those around you,” he answered. The boy twisted the handle and pushed the door open, revealing the same endless space filled with stars that Goro had seen outside the window. “Good luck, Goro Akechi. Hope you won’t see me anytime soon.”

The boy stepped out the door, falling out without a single sound and leaving Goro alone once more. Goro shook his head, but found himself smiling. He still had things to do, huh? Guess he couldn’t rest any longer.

Goro pushed himself off the bed and walked to the door. The stars seemed to stretch out in every direction, and he could see no sign of the strange boy. Still, this door was the only way out. The only way back. Goro sighed. He took a deep breath, and stepped outside the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there's that! This is my first time writing a Persona fic and the first time posting on here, so any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Hope you enjoyed it, more to come soon!


	2. Remember Your Place (Side A)

Akira woke up to Morgana calling his name. The cat was pacing on his bed and occasionally butting his head against Akira’s chest in at attempt to wake him up. “Are you up yet?” he complained. “Hurry up, you need to get to school!”

Yep, still bossy. Akira chuckled lightly and petted his head as he pushed himself off the bed, much to Morgana’s annoyance. His muscles moved on their own, following a routine not even a life-changing year could make him forget. He slipped into his uniform — his old uniform — and surprised himself with how well it still fit him. It had only been a year, yet it felt like an entire lifetime passed by since he last wore this uniform.

Morgana climbed onto the desk to inspect his appearance. “Not bad,” Morgana commented. “Definitely different, but it kind of suits you. I guess it shouldn’t be weird, though.” He jumped off the table and looked up expectantly at Akira. “Now, breakfast! I’m hungry. Do you think your parents have sushi?”

Never change, Mona. If Morgana wasn’t around, Akira probably would have done something stupid like attempt to ask Sojiro for curry. No Sojiro here, though Akira could probably try to make himself some curry if he had the ingredients. Maybe his parents would be impressed by that.

“I doubt it,” Akira muttered, both an answer to Morgana’s question and his own. He grabbed his bag and went to the kitchen. His mother was sitting at the dinner table, but she did little more than nod at him. He rummaged through the cabinets before settling on making some toast for himself, and passing on a bit of fish he found to Morgana, who seemed pleased enough with it.

He passed by his mother again on the way out, expecting more awkward silences, but she actually spoke to him. Surprise. “Akira,” she called out, stopping him in his tracks. “Stop by the faculty office when you get to school, okay? Your teacher wants to speak to you. Oh, and have a nice day at school,” she added, almost like it was just an afterthought. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was.

Akira paused, unsure of what to say. He was able to use moving exhaustion as an excuse to avoid talking when he arrived, he ran out of the house most days after that, and it wasn’t like his parents contacted him during his stay in Tokyo. They had several conversations about his time in Tokyo, but that was it. By now he was… Well. It was hard. He settled on a soft, “Okay. Thanks Mom.” She seemed happy enough with that answer and didn’t say more.

Morgana was silent until they were far enough from the house, hidden his bag. When he finally poked his head out, Akira couldn’t read him. “Are your parents… Do they mind me being around?” he asked. They did, the day he got back, when they saw Morgana run up the stairs. Akira gave some excuse about being tired, and how Sojiro thought a pet would help him be responsible, and no one could watch it in Tokyo. His parents either bought his answer or didn’t want to push for more, so they let him go.

The question made Akira smile though. It was probably Mona’s way of asking if his parents were upset at him, if he was okay with it. “They’re fine,” Akira answered. “Besides, I can’t just throw you out.”

“Of course you can’t! Where would you be without me, huh?” Akira laughed and playfully shoved Morgana’s head back inside his bag, which ended up being fortunate because just then, they ran into a group of students from his school. Akira couldn’t recognize them at all, neither did they seem to notice him, but he looked down and shifted into an almost slouching position; a habit from Tokyo he hadn’t managed to get rid of.

He stole a glance at the group, and guessed that they were first-year students, which explained why they didn’t recognize him. He wasn’t sure what he would do if he ran into anyone he knew. Hope they didn’t realize it was him, probably. He was wearing the glasses he didn’t need, after all, so maybe that would throw people off. Like Superman. No idea if that worked in real life, but he mighta as well try. No one had said anything to him so far, maybe that meant something.

It probably meant Morgana got him out of the house early.

Hey, that wasn’t bad. If he was early then they couldn’t yell at him for being late. Not that he was usually late, but it happened once at Tokyo, didn’t it? It wasn’t fun. Akira shook his head and quickened his pace, eager to get to school early and avoid getting attention.

Akira managed to make it all the way to school gates without a single person speaking to him, and he began to wonder if the glasses actually worked as a disguise. Even Morgana pointed it out, as the two of them took a look at his school building. “So this is your school, huh? You could probably get here in time even if you woke up a bit later, but — ack!”

Morgan ducked bag into the bag as a familiar looking, dark haired girl approached them, dressed in the same uniform as Akira. She wore a bright yellow backpack instead of the typical schoolbags, her eyes wide at the side of Akira. Her steps were uncertain, but he knew who she was. She was in his grade.

Akira had to suppress a sigh. He spoke way too soon.

“Aki — Kurusu-kun?” The girl went even closer, to take a better look at his face before nodding to herself. Her fingers were wrapped tightly around the straps of her bag. Akira’s hands were in his pocket. “You’re back.” The way she said it told him that she probably wanted to say something else, but wasn’t sure how.

He really didn’t want to deal with these things that early in the morning, but as usual, his luck kind of sucked. He breathed in. Out. “Morning, Mori-san,” he greeted, not bothering to reply to the second part because duh, he was standing right there. Of course he was back. What else would he be, a ghost?

The girl winced, presumably at his tone and the use of her last name. She looked almost as uncomfortable with the situation as he was. “It’s been awhile, huh?” she tried, now avoiding his face.

This wasn’t going to get anywhere. Akira braced himself and gave her a smile, cranking up his charm to the max, attempting to appear apologetic instead of just incredibly awkward. “Sorry, I’d catch up, but I need to go to the faculty office. Can’t have them labelling me as a delinquent on my first day.” He waved at her and headed inside the building, hoping to avoid any further confrontations.

Morgana peeked at him as they were heading up the stairs. “Who’s that?” He question, obviously curious about the whole situation. It was probably fair. Akira never liked talking about people from his hometown.

“Natsume Mori,” he answered. “She knows me.” That part was obvious, but Akira didn’t feel like explaining any more than that. He knew Morgana would try to pull the situation out of him later on, but it was hard to talk about. The whole assault thing put strain on his relationships with his friends, and moving to Tokyo essentially cut them off.

Of course, then they found out he was falsely accused and everything got even weirder. At Shujin everyone just straight up didn’t like him or was scared at him, but at least that meant he knew what to expect. He shook his head and gently pushed Morgana back into the bag. He needed to put on a good impression for the teachers first.

Akira pushed his hands into his pockets. His record was cleared, and the teachers here knew him, they knew he had good behavior. Compared to Shujin and how everyone was reminding him how easily he could get kicked out, this should be a walk in the park.

Taking a deep breath, Akira knocked on the door before pushing it open, slowly stepping into the faculty office. “Excuse me, my name is Akira Kurusu,” he said, keeping his head down while he spoke. “I’m, uh, I was told to come here when I got to school.”

He looked up. Some of the teachers seemed mildly annoyed, but for the most part they ignored him and went back to talking between themselves. One of the female teachers got up from the seat and approached him. She had long brown hair and wore a plain sweater over her button up shirt and grey skirt. Akira vaguely recognized her as an English teacher. If he remembered correctly, her name was… “Ms. Akiyama?”

“Well look at that, the problem child remembers me,” Akiyama said dryly, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She waved her hand and lead him outside of the room, giving him a once-over. “Let me guess trying to make a good first impression? Although you’re not exactly starting fresh, are you?”

Akira honestly wasn’t sure what to say to that. His confusion seemed to entertain her though, who started walking down the hallway. “Well, at least you showed up early. That’s a good sign.” She glanced back at him, her expression turning into something unreadable. “Anyway, I’m your homeroom teacher, but you probably guessed that.”

He nodded, getting an amused look from his teacher. At least she didn’t seem particularly bothered by his presence? She wasn’t acting like she particularly liked him, but wasn’t acting reluctant like Kawakami had been either. That was probably a good sign.

“You know, the teachers went crazy when you pulled that stunt last year. It wasn’t good for the school’s rep, especially in a town this small,” Akiyama suddenly said, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Of course most of them know you didn’t really do anything now, but they probably won’t trust you either.” She stopped in front a classroom and eyed him curiously. “Didn’t think you’d come back here though. Most people would want to start over.”

Akira shrugged. He didn’t have a good answer for that. It was only one year after all, so he didn’t want to trouble his parents any more than he had to. Akiyama even didn’t wait for him to answer and just shoved him inside the class. Akira was dead silent, and so were the students that happened to be in the class, all staring at him and their teacher.

“Here’s your class. 3-2. Don’t cause trouble and we won’t have any issues. Now sit down, that seat in the front row is empty,” she ordered, pointing at the seat by the window. “I think because you showed up so early, I’m not even going to make you introduce yourself later. It is the first day of school, so everyone’s basically new.” She sent a look at the other students, as if daring them to say otherwise. Then, with her voice raised, “Besides, they already know who you are, _right_?”

Akira nodded. Note to self, don’t piss off the homeroom teacher. “Thank you, Ms. Akiyama.”

Akiyama smiled in satisfaction before pushing him further inside the classroom, turning around, and leaving him with three other students in awkward silence. Before that silence was broken, Akira chose to rush to his seat and pretended he couldn’t see the others. He opened his bag, letting Morgana hide out under the desk. It could be worse. No one he knew well was around. He could pretend to sleep until class starts and not have to deal with any of it.

The door opened again. Lo and behold, Natsume Mori stepped in, now for some reason with dirt on her hands. She saw Akira sitting in the front row and her expression turned into something resembling a deer caught in the headlights. Akira? Well, Akira was starting to regret every decision he made that lead him back here.

It was going to be a very long day.

* * *

**Futaba:** AKIRA STATUS REPORT ARE YOU ALIVE

 **Ann:** He hasn’t said anything since yesterday morning...

 **Ryuji:** hes prolly dealin with school stuff rn

 **Yusuke:** I believe Ryuji has a good point

 **Ann:** Yeah, but I’m still kind of worried?

 **Ryuji:** dude its joker. hes fine.

 **Haru:** Maybe we should just wait until later today? He’s probably busy.

 **Futaba:** AKIRAAAAAA

 **Akira:** read at 8:02

 **Ryuji:** dude…

 **Futaba:** AKIRA!!!

 **Yusuke:** It’s good to hear from you again.

 **Ann:** Heya Akira! Are you at school yet?

 **Futaba:** do people still think you killed a man? I want to know everything!!

 **Akira:** eh, everyone’s avoiding me. At least they don’t think I made a deal with Satan?

 **Ryuji:** didnt u tho?

 **Ann:** I mean, your persona

 **Yusuke:** It is named Satanael, is it not?

 **Akira:** Gee, thanks guys.

 **Makoto:** We shouldn’t be bothering him. Besides, isn’t school starting in a couple of minutes?

 **Ryuji:** yes, MOM

 **Ann:** Don’t be a jerk Skull

 **Yusuke:** I do believe Ryuji has a point in Makoto being like a mother figure, though

 **Futaba:** shit you’re right

 **Haru:** Should we really be talking about this now?

 **Akira:** sorry gtg teacher’s here, later

* * *

“Isn’t everyone being kind of weird around you?” Morgana questioned, now walking by Akira’s feet, claiming he was tired of being cooped up all day. He glanced back, as if expecting someone to be following them, but no one had really paid attention to them since they left school.

Akira shrugged. “I don’t know any more than you do,” he said, already feeling fatigued despite it not being dark yet. Morgana was right, obviously. His underclassmen were whispering about him all day, the people in his grade who didn’t know him well eyed him with a mix of pity and suspicion, and the ones who did seemed torn between talking to him and avoiding him entirely, so Akira made a choice for them and decided to escape every time one got near.

A few more of his… friends came in during lunchtime. Even if Mori hadn’t told them what was going on, they were bound to find out. Word travels fast in small towns like this one.

“She was your friend, wasn’t she?” Mona looked up at him and Akira knew he couldn’t hide anything from his feline friend. Akira could put it away — he liked to think he had good compartmentalization skills — but it wouldn’t stop Morgana from noticing. “You know, you’re going to have to talk about it at some point,” he continued, as if reading Akira’s mind. “If you can’t talk to her, then at least tell me what’s going on.”

“I know. Just not now.” He sent Morgana a smile. “But I will.”

Morgana didn’t seem happy with it, but he let the subject drop, looking around the street instead. “Where are we going? This isn’t the way to your house, is it?”

Akira shook his head. “I figured I could buy some food before we go home. I’ll get you sushi, but you need to get in the bag,” he explained, placing his back down on the ground.

“Get me the good stuff!” Morgana told him as he jumped back inside the bag. Akira was planning on that anyway, so he nodded. Well, the nicest stuff he could find, anyway.

Soon enough, the pair arrived at a department store. Surprisingly enough, despite it being the main stop for shopping in town, he hadn’t stopped by since he got back. He reasoned that its food court was a popular hang out location, and Akira spent his time before school going to quieter, more deserted places. Akira made sure Morgana was hidden inside the bag before he stepped in, since he wasn’t sure if he would be allowed in or not.

The familiar jingle rang out through the building and Akira couldn’t help but smile. It could be a tad annoying sometimes, but after a year away, he actually missed the cheerful music. Humming softly, he headed to the food section to grab some snacks and sushi for Morgana. The store felt exactly the same, and no one looked at him weirdly.”

“Hey Mona,” he whispered, browsing through the food selection. “Wanna eat here? There’s a food court. I’ll grab some sushi.”

Morgana peeked out of the bag and stared at him for awhile before giving an affirmative noise. Soon enough, they were sitting at the food court. Akira ended up opening the bag so Morgana could eat his sushi while they waited for Akira’s food to get done. Morgana leapt out of the bag onto the desk and started wolfing down the sushi. “It’s good!” he announced between bites.

“Here you go!” A voice announced from behind him, as a young man with brown hair approached the table with Akira’s food. Akira blinked. A part of him didn’t expect to see him still working at Junes. He set it down on a table and was just about to leave when he seemed to really notice Akira. Akira sighed. Here we go again.

“Kurusu-kun isn’t it?” the man asked. “Man, it’s been awhile! You and your friends used to hang here all the time, so I was kind of worried when you stopped. It’s good to see you back here, kid.”

“That’s a first.” The words left his mouth before Akira could stop himself, far more bitter than he would have liked anyone else to hear. He winced, hoping the man didn’t notice. “Sorry, Hanamura-san. It’s been a long day.”

Hanamura shook his head, giving Akira an easy smile. “Nah, it’s cool. I heard about what happened, it sucks. So I’m guessing why you’re here alone is…?”

Akira nodded, looking down at his food. The younger Hanamura had always been nice to him, even when he was a kid messing around in the toys section. He felt bad at snapping at the one person who was genuinely happy to see him, though.

“Yikes, that sucks,” Hanamura said, but didn’t push, choosing to look at Morgana instead, who had grown silent since he showed up. “Did you get a cat? It’s cute.” He pet Morgana, who for once actually stayed put. “You know, a friend of mine really likes cats,” he added, a soft smile on his face. “Anyway! I should get back to work. Enjoy your food, Kurusu-kun. Feel free to stop by if you need to, yeah?”

Akira nodded again and gave him a grateful smile, watching him walk away. Going here was a good decision. He turned back to the table and started digging in, before noticing that Morgana had been uncharacteristically silent. “Morgana? What’s up?”

Morgana shook his head, snapping out of whatever had taken over him in that moment. “No, it’s just… Does he feel odd to you?”

“No?” Hanamura had felt like he remembered, and Akira didn’t really notice anything off with him. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s probably nothing, then. Maybe I’m just hungry,” he added, making Akira laugh since he had nearly finished the tray of sushi Akira bought him. “Fatty tuna here I come!”

* * *

“Mom? Dad?” Akira called out, taking off his shoes by the door. He set down his school bag and carried the shopping bags towards the kitchen. “I went to Junes and got some food!”

No reply. Akira sighed, putting away the things he bought in the cupboards. Guess neither of them were home. His dad was probably still at work and his mom most likely went out. Possibly to avoid him. She wasn’t the only one.

He ended up dropping down in front of the TV and turned it on, clicking through random channels. Morgana was in his room and made no move to exit, leaving Akira alone with the TV and the rain starting outside. He missed his gaming console. He wasn’t even sure if his parents would have let him use it, which was why he left it to Futaba in the first place, but he missed it.

The TV wasn’t playing anything interesting, so Akira ended up turning it off and taking out his phone. The group chat was as active as ever, this time recounting their Hawaii trip to Futaba, since she hadn’t been there when it happened. It wasn’t the first time this conversation happened, again with Ryuji complaining about the lack of activities he got to do there.

Apparently he and Mishima tried to pick up girls at the beach while Akira was away with… no, he was there. With them. Right? Yeah, he was. He got a message from Makoto, but ended up going with Ryuji, if only to make sure his friend didn’t do anything stupid. Yeah, that was what happened.

Geez, he should probably get some rest. The exhaustion was messing with his memory. Akira typed in his input into the group chat and let things spiral on, scrolling through the rest of his messages instead. There wasn’t much, save for several goodbyes and a bunch of memes from Futaba.

His fingers finally fell on one particular chatroom. He opened it. The last messages were from him, but he supposed they wouldn’t get answered. Not ever, probably. He should probably stop waiting, but he ended up typing a message anyway. His finger hovered above the send button.

He shook his head and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. Akira pushed himself up and headed up the stairs. Trying to recall the Hawaii trip, along with the day’s events, had left him with a slight headache. It wouldn’t hurt to get some rest in his room. Morgana would probably yell at him to go to sleep if he tried to stay up anyway.

He entered his room and flopped onto his bed, making Morgana yelp in the process. “Jeez, at least act like you don’t want to crush me.” He pushed his head against Akira’s legs, but managed to do nothing. “I guess you do look pretty tired though.”

The house was silent. He fully realized for first time that he had grown unused to it. Even at Yongen at night, it was never completely quiet. Here, with an empty house, the silence would have been oppressive if there wasn’t the rain outside present to fill it up. Akira pulled out his phone and stared at the screen for awhile. He ended up pressing the send button anyway.

“It’s raining pretty hard outside,” Morgana commented. “Does it get like this a lot?” The cat turned to Akira, who was content with burying his face into his pillow and didn’t answer the cat. It was, sometimes.

Offhandedly, Akira wondered if it would get foggy.

* * *

**Akira:** _[12/15, 21:30]_ Hey. Are you there?

 **Akira:** _[12/15, 23:09]_ Would you even tell me if you are?

 **Akira:** _[12/17, 22:17]_ It’s done. Shido’s palace is gone.

 **Akira:** _[12/17, 22:18]_ I hope you made it out.

 **Akira:** _[12/18, 22:02]_ He confessed. We finally did it.

 **Akira:** _[12/18, 22:08]_ I hope you got to see it.

 **Akira:** _[12/23, 21:48]_ Planning one final heist. We’re taking down Mementos.

 **Akira:** _[12/24, 23:28]_ Have you ever heard of the Velvet Room?

 **Akira:** _[12/25, 02:32]_ I won’t be able to talk to you for awhile. Message me if you read this.

 **Akira:** _[2/13, 22:56]_ Hi. If you’re reading this, I ran away from prison ;)

 **Akira:** _[2/13, 22:56]_ Kidding. They cleared my record tho!

 **Akira:** _[2/14, 09:13]_ Hey, look Valentine’s Day. Bet you’ll get bombarded with gifts.

 **Akira:** _[2/18, 20:05]_ Hi, I’m back to living a normal life. It’s boring.

 **Akira:** _[2/26, 16:19]_ Were you ever in any clubs? They seem interesting, but I guess you’re busy

 **Akira:** _[3/5, 21:31]_ Are you actually that into pancakes? I’m kinda curious

 **Akira:** _[3/18, 19:02]_ Found your food blog! You really have a sweet tooth, huh?

 **Akira:** _[3/19, 18:45]_ Can you even see these?

 **Akira:** _[3/20, 01:37]_ I’m going back home tomorrow. Er, today. I wanted to say goodbye to you too.

 **Akira:** _[4/1, 20:19]_ I forgot how quiet my hometown is. And small.

 **Akira:** _[4/10, 19:03]_ Back to school today and now I have a headache. Would you reply if you see this?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a slower chapter, but I really wanted have Akira settle in a bit before any more crazy stuff happens. Goro's parts were initially supposed to be part of this, but it was getting long so I decided to split it in half. But hey, Yosuke! Hope you guys enjoyed it, and we'll be back soon with some fun, spooky persona related magic.


	3. Remember Your Place (Side B)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT (18/07/2018): Ahem. Ended up rewriting like, nearly the entire chapter. No major plot points were changed, but I like how it flows much better now!

Goro gripped his gun tightly, ready to take down any possibly hostiles as he checked around the street from his spot in the alley. The road ahead seemed blessedly empty, the convenience store on the other side of the street serving as a beacon of light that drove the Shadows away. He switched off the saber he had been using to light the way, the weapon’s faint light hardly necessary with the store so close by. He took a deep breath and dashed across the street, creating splashes in the water that seemed to be present in every inch of the world.

He slipped past the door and ducked behind one of the shelves, then quickly turned around and pointed the gun at the door. He slowed his breathing. Steadied his hands. Started counting the seconds. Only once a full minute had passed with no disturbance did he push himself to his feet and put his gun away. He took another minute to steady himself once more before browsing through the store for food and drinks. He grabbed a bunch of energy bars and whatever could last him a long time and tossed those into his backpack (taken from dollar shop what he figured was a couple of days ago) along with several bottles of water.

Once his bag was fully stocked again, he grabbed a wrapped sandwich and a bottle of juice and settled down behind the register to consume them. He may have not seen any Shadows around, but it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious. He ripped the plastic packaging open and bit down, listing down the things he had learned since he left the strange room.

One, he was dropped into this world right after leaving the room. Goro could remember the sensation of sinking and a calm washing over him before being violently ripped away and finding himself in a puddle in a cold, desaturated world, in a middle of a flooded street. It didn’t look like any place he recognized, at first glance. Houses lined the side of the street, except it looked like someone took random sections of buildings from all over the world and decided to stick them together. He eventually found himself walking aimlessly, taking the time to study the world he was in.

Two, upon further inspection, the area wasn’t quite as randomly put together as he first thought. Though all the streets were strangely full of water and everything leeched of color, after some time wandering the place, Goro began to notice that certain types of buildings, certain motifs, appeared more often than others. With nobody beside himself and his strange surroundings, Goro eventually concluded that if he took away the parts that didn’t belong, he would most likely find himself looking at a residential area in a country somewhere in Europe.

Three, as mentioned, all of the streets were soaked. The water was deeper in some areas than others, but it would always be there, though houses and buildings tended to be dry on the inside if the doors and windows are closed, which brought him to number four. Four, all of the houses were empty. Some were unlocked, and some Goro had to use additional force to enter, but they were all unoccupied, though furnished. He almost thought that the entire world would be devoid of people, but that wasn’t exactly the case.

Five, Shadows existed in this world. After who-knows-how-long of wandering the residential areas, most likely out of a stroke of good luck, Goro managed to find what he guessed was a shopping center of sorts. Houses faded to give way to taller buildings, all sorts of shops and restaurant (six, he added, everything there operated like it should. Shops were fully stocked, the restaurants full of fresh food). This section of the world, to his surprise, actually had something in it, being Shadows. Some humanoid, some were not.

Seven, avoid the non-humanoid ones.

Goro frowned, pulling at the bandages still wrapped around his arm. It contrasted strongly against the dark outfit he’d entered the world in. The one he also nearly died it, and the one he was in as a killer for a man he hated. He supposed it was fitting. His white outfit was nothing but a lie, a means to an end. Without really thinking about it, his hands moved up to grip the edges of his mask, ready to pull it off.

He didn’t.

Note number seven was important.

He squeezed his eyes shut. _‘Loki?’_ He tried, calling out the the presence he had grown so used to, only to be greeted by more silence. He lowered his hands. He didn’t know what he was expecting.

Note number seven was important, because from the moment he stepped into the world, his mind had been annoyingly, awfully empty, most likely because for some reason he couldn’t understand, his Personas were not present.

“Fuck,” he cursed, hands balling up into tight fists. Note number six was important, he repeated again, because no Personas meant he was significantly weaker. In a world he barely understood outside from observations that provided little information, that was also inhabited by creatures who could very much kill him. Knowing his luck, Goro didn’t know why he was surprised.

What was he even doing here? When the strange boy had told him to leave, he expected to find himself somewhere he knew. Back in Tokyo, back in the Metaverse. In danger, either from the law or from Shadows. Instead, he was dumped in a world he had no understanding of, with no idea what he was supposed to do or where he was supposed to go. What the hell was wrong with all those magic beings? It seems everyone expected him to do their dirty work, but so few cared enough to explain things to him.

He had no idea what he was doing, and it _terrified_ him. He had been working towards one goal for so long, and now he no longer knew what he wanted. He could try coming back, but for what? Nothing was waiting for him. He was ready to die, he had accepted it, but no, he wasn’t even allowed death.

Goro gritted his teeth and pushed himself to his feet. He shook the thoughts away. If getting shot didn’t kill him, the he wasn’t going to just let some negative thoughts push him to rot into nothing. He was going to get out of whatever the hell this place was, and then. And then he’ll figure something out. One thing at a time.

He closed his eyes and went over his list one more time. Wandering around with no clear destination obviously did nothing, and it was a matter of time and luck before he ran across an enemy he couldn’t defeat. There had to be something he could use. He repeated the list, trying to… number six. The world operated as it should, despite the lack of occupants. He was currently in a city, and those should have a form of public transportation running.

It was barely a plan, and he had no idea where he would go even if he could leave the section of the world, but he was going to literally go insane if he did nothing. He took a deep breath and exited the store, the light from his weapon once more being used to light up the constant darkness of the world. He kept his eye out for Shadows, grip on his gun growing even stronger the closer he got to the shopping center.

He remembered seeing a bus stop while wandering around, positioned in front of a restaurant. He hadn’t seen any vehicles on the streets, but if the world was anything like the Metaverse, it could have something to do with cognition. If he registered a bus as something that should be there, a normal part of a city, it should probably…

Huh.

Goro wasn’t expecting it to work that easily. But he wasn’t about to question it and risk the bus disappearing either, so he rushed over and climbed on the bus. He mentally added another point to his slowly growing list. Eight, the world was affected by cognition. He should investigate how much of an effect it was.

He couldn’t see any other passengers or even a driver on the bus, but the moment he sat down, the bus started moving. The hodgepodge of a town on the outside soon blurred away, and Goro was left staring at flashing lights. It reminded him of being on a train, but he was very obviously still on the bus.

He had no way of telling where the bus was headed. The scenery outside passed by too fast for him to identify anything. He could hear water splashing as the bus moved, but that was it. Goro frowned. He didn’t enjoy being kept in the dark, but in this case, he had no choice.

The pocket in front of his seat, oddly enough, had newspaper in it. There was no date on the paper, nothing that could help him figure out how long he’d been away, and it was in English, but he could read it, and it would be a decent way to pass the time. It took him a few minutes to notice that the articles it contained was strangely put together, like they were never supposed to be on the same piece of paper. Some looked like gossip from a tabloid, others the kind of news you were more likely to find in a school newspaper, and others had pen scratches on them, marking them unfit to be published.

Patched together, he realized, like the buildings. He held the papers so tightly they started to crinkle, his focus starting to drift away from the text.

With the space where his Personas should be being uncomfortably empty, Goro knew he had to figure things out fast. He had to, before he found himself in a situation he can’t get out of.

* * *

The bus brought Goro to a building that somewhat reminded him of a station. It didn’t look like any specific station, neither did the empty area surrounding it give him any information, but it looked like a train station. The bus pulled up to a stop in front of the station and the doors opened automatically. Taking that as his cue, Goro stepped off the bus, which sped away the moment he got off, splashing him water. 

Guess that meant he wasn’t going back.

Goro scanned the area and spotted to visible Shadows, hostile or otherwise. The road behind him stretched on with no visible end. He could see towering buildings in the distance though, which he guessed was where the road would eventually lead. The sky seemed lighter, like early morning instead of midnight, but was full of dark clouds, threatening to spill over and bring the water even higher at any moment. The sight of those was enough to push Goro to enter the building.

The inside of the station was brightly lit, ticket booths and miscellaneous shops framing either side of the large hallway. His footsteps echoed throughout the seemingly empty building as he walked, the hallway growing narrower until it branched off into multiple directions at some sort of circular room. The domed ceiling far above him was glass, letting faint light filter into the clearing. A signpost stood at the center of the room with arrows pointing at each hallway, but all of them were blank, because _of course_ it was. It would be too easy if they just told him where to go.

He attempted touching the signs and prodding at the post, but the actions revealed nothing particularly helpful. He tried looking into the hallways themselves too, but that didn’t give him much either. All of them looked identical, with rows of screens showing static on the walls and dead lights on the ceiling. He couldn’t see very far into them because of the dark, so he had no idea where they lead either.

Finding no other choice, Goro chose a random hallway and stepped into it. He pulled out his sword and switched it on, the blue light emitting from it dancing off the screens. It was barely enough for him to be able to see, but there was nothing to see except screens anyway. Maybe then he could figure out a way to activate the lights. Exploring a little wouldn’t do much harm, it wasn’t like he had never explored a Palace blindly before. Same idea.

Besides, he hadn’t seen any Shadows since he got there. It should be fine.

Goro walked slowly, trying to silence his footsteps. The screens, he noticed, seemed to ripple strangely. The static shifted, as if about to reveal an image hidden underneath, before settling back into place. It almost looked like the screens weren’t even solid. Like he could just reach in and —

“Careful.”

A hand wrapped around his wrist out of nowhere, pulling it away from the screen. Goro dropped his sword in favor of his gun, quickly whipping around to point it at the intruder. Impossibly bright blue eyes stared back at him, a familiar yellow scarf moving strangely, as if blown by an invisible wind. The boy slowly let go of his hand and stepped back, a small smile on his face. The strange boy from the room.

“Sorry!” The boy raised both his hands in a surrendering gesture and took another step back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Goro frowned but lowered his gun and went to pick up his sword, keeping his eyes focused on the boy. “I thought you said you didn’t want to see me again,” Goro said, recalling the words he’d said in the room. “Why are you here?”

“Well.” The boy’s smile turned into something almost sheepish. “I did say not anytime _soon_. And it’s been awhile. So there.” He sighed, scratching the back of his head. “Besides, this is a whole different situation. If anything, I’m here to prevent the other type of seeing me from happening!”

“You do realize you’re not making much sense at all, right?” What was up with this guy? Not human, obviously, no human would just be able to pull someone out of the Metaverse, but what? Goro shook his head and lifted his gun again. “Why are you here? What do you want from me?”

The boy looked upset at his question, something like anger flashing briefly on his face before it smoothed out again. “I don’t — I want to help you,” he said, and Goro gritted his teeth. In his mind, memories of a room bathed in blue rose to the surface, of a long-nosed man, twin wardens, and a rigged game. The boy looked nothing like them, yet he couldn’t help but recall those memories. Before him, the boy sighed. “Come back with me. I can’t tell you everything, but I’ll explain. I promise.”

Goro nodded mutely and followed the boy back to to room with the signpost. Before, he accepted a deal from people he couldn’t trust in order to gain revenge. He didn’t know if there were anything he still wanted. The boy looked up at the blank signs and turned back to face Goro. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions—“

“You’re not even answering the one I already asked,” Goro spat out, cutting him off. Something twisted inside him, leaving behind a sour taste in his mouth. “What do you want from me?” His hands closed into fists, tight enough to draw blood if he wasn’t wearing gloves. “What do you want me to do _now_?”

The boy’s eyes grew wide, the same anger flashing again in his eyes before being pushed away. Even though it only appeared briefly, Goro still flinched involuntarily, silently berating himself, both for the action and for snapping in the first place. The boy bit his lip, expression turning… almost sad, instead of angry.

“Akechi,” he said softly, his blue eyes burning into Goro, full of everything he could never even fathom. The kind of things Kurusu did, him and every single on of his stupid, stubborn, meddling Phantom Thieves. “I know you don’t have much reason to trust me, but I just want to help you. I’ll tell you how to navigate this place, but I’m not going to ask you to do anything for me.”

Goro turned his head away, no longer able to meet the boy’s face. “Then _why_?”

“I told you, I’m doing someone a favor,” the boy answered with a shrug, smiling softly. “But I guess… I’m kind of tired of seeing people get shoved into these games. They’re rigged anyway, so why not cheat the system?”

“That’s—“ Goro unclenched his fists, forcing his body to relax. He couldn’t afford to fall apart. “Fine. Teach me.” He breathed in and exhaled slowly. “Although I would appreciate it if you could at least tell me your name.”

The boy laughed sheepishly, as if the thought of introducing himself didn’t even cross his mind. “Right.” He held out his hand and smiled widely. “Ryoji Mochizuki, at your service! You can just call me Ryoji, it’s fine.”

Goro gave him a small, tentative smile and shook his hand. “Goro Akechi, but I guess you knew that.”

“Okay! Now that that’s done, explanations!” Ryoji, Goro noticed, seemed to go through a wide range of emotions rather quickly, or maybe it was just the current circumstances. It made him seem human (though if that was the criteria for being human, Goro had to wonder what it meant for him). “This place is… Well, it’s a part of the collective unconscious, you could say. A little like your Metaverse. We’re in a part that’s closer to the real world, and it _should_ be a reflection of that, but as you can see, something’s wrong.”

“And you want me to fix it.” The words slipped out before Goro could stop them and they were definitely not the right thing to say.

“No!” Annoyance flickered through his face and he crossed his arms, frowning at Goro. “I’d drag you out of here if I could. But you’re going to be back here either way. You’re still linked closely to this world, so it’s better to… it’s safer to have you learn while you can.”

Goro sighed. Of course with his luck, he’d still have an entire journey in front of him, whether he wanted it or not. Yet he had help on his side this time, someone helping him for his sake, so he supposed his luck could have been worse.

Ryoji started walking towards one of the hallways, gesturing at Goro to follow him. “Simply put, this world is affected by human cognition, like your Metaverse. Stations like these are spots you can use to travel to different places, as long as you meet the requirements. You grabbed newspaper earlier right? Can you take it out?”

Goro took in Ryoji’s words as he pulled out the newspaper, slowly piecing together what the boy meant to say. He handed the newspaper to Ryoji, beginning to gain a clear guess of what exactly the requirements her spoke of were when the boy started flipping through it. Some of the screens around them started to flicker, faint images appearing behind the static. Ryoji finally stopped on an article when the screen right in front of him started changing. Once he did so, the image grew clearer, until Goro could make out an image of a street filled with cars.

“Well, look at that, we found one.”

“Now what?” Akechi questioned, watching text appear and an man’s voice reading out traffic information.

Ryoji grinned. “Now, you go through there.”

* * *

He was jumping through screens. Really, Goro thought the Metaverse was bizarre, but this world was larger and a million times more confusing. Whatever distortion warped his surroundings didn’t seem to be stuck in one area, and while Goro was getting better at identifying the places he visited, he could only do so much. Ryoji’s pointers did help though, and he didn’t feel like he stumbled into the Metaverse for the first time anymore.

Right now, he stood in the lobby of a modern hotel somehow mashed into an old European style castle. He adjusted his backpack as he stared at the chandeliers and empty sofas. He was pretty sure the place was haunted, but he didn’t see any of the dangerous Shadows, so it would probably work as a resting spot for the night.

Goro approached the front desk. This part was probably one of the easiest. He was staying at the hotel and needed a key to get into his room. He simply had to register those thoughts as something true, and the shadowy figure behind the desk placed a keycard on the desk. Goro retrieved it and headed towards the elevator, which he knew would take him to his floor without much prompting. The elevator itself was creaky and felt like it could fall apart any moment, but it _worked_ , which was all that mattered.

The elevator deposited him into a long hallway with fancy wallpaper and soft carpeting, but the thick curtains framing the large windows on either side of the walls were burnt at the edges, and swayed despite lack of a breeze. Rusting sets of armor stood against the wall, silent guardians watching his every move. Goro’s own footsteps seemed to echo throughout the building, announcing his presence to any other occupants.

“Alright,” he muttered to himself. “Definitely haunted.”

Ghosts were the least of his concerns though, as Goro quickly entered his room and shut the doorbefore collapsing onto the bed. The covers were warm, and the bed was incredibly comfortable. He sighed and let his body relax. Okay, maybe following the rumors about a haunted hotel was worth it after all.

He thought the piece of news he found was stupid, at first. He managed to get himself to a food stand that sold youth-restoring drinks, which wasn’t a very interesting rumor, but it did lead him to the newspaper article about a recently deceased man’s hotel being passed on to his son, and eventually to the late night “mystery-solving” TV show investigating said hotel for ghosts. Apparently the owner was a collector of antiques, and they attracted ghosts? He stopped paying much attention after figuring it would take him to a decent (if haunted) hotel. Goro knew he should be focusing on pieces of news and rumors that could get him closer to home, but he’d gone days without proper rest.

Ha, he was noticing his limits. Sae would be so proud of him. Or not. The Phantom Thieves were bound to tell her about what he actually was after all; he wouldn’t be surprised if she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Or maybe she was on his case, trying to get him arrested at that exact moment.

Goro sighed and pushed himself up, forcing himself to inspect the room. The first thing he noticed was the large TV in front of the bed. His hunch was correct, and it was a large TV, which should make traveling easier. If he was lucky, he could just flick through news channels until he found an adequate piece of news. It was something he realized he could do outside of stations — while station screens only activated for certain news, actuals TVs had channels he could go through, but it was hard to find more specific things, once he started realizing that he should probably try to get to that world’s equivalent of Tokyo. That was why he started a habit of piling magazines and newspapers in his backpack. The ones in Japanese or English, anyway.

He switched the TV on and settled onto the bed, pulling a bundle of newspapers out of his bag. His first objective was to get rid of any news on foreign matters. He didn’t need to get further out of the country. From what Ryoji could tell him, the places he went through were still reflections of real places, as distorted as they may be. The news articles and gossip columns he used to get around were real too.

It all made him wish he could just search up news on his phone, but much like in the Metaverse, his phone couldn’t do much. He pulled out the device anyway and held it tightly in his hand. It didn’t do him much good, but he couldn’t bring himself to get rid of it. At that point, it felt like a lifeline, the only piece of the real world he had left.

Maybe someone was trying to get through to him. Maybe someone was still trying to find him.

He put his phone down. Flipped to another page. He was being delirious. Nobody would be waiting for him.

* * *

_“Are they still looking for him?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Should we… I could just take him there, you know. Or you could. We could.”_

_“Don’t. They can wait. Things haven’t even started on that side yet.”_

_“Yeah, but I don’t like this. It’s not right, leaving him to wander around alone like that.”_

_“I know. Trust me, I do. But the moment he leaves, they’ll know where he is.”_

_“…”_

_“We can’t keep him out of this. He has to do it.”_

_“I know that! Of course I do.”_

_“I don’t like this either, you know. Not at all.”_

_“Yeah. I know that too.”_

_“As long as he’s not getting hurt, if this will help them in the long run…”_

_“You’re right. I’ll keep watching him.”_

_“Good. I’ll take of things on this side. Thank you for this.”_

* * *

Goro found himself awake after what he assumed was a night’s sleep later, a pile of discarded paper on the floor and what he could use carefully clipped together. His phone was still in his hand, turned off. He breathed in and pressed the power button.

The screen flickered to life, but he saw nothing useful on it. The clock was stuck on the time he last entered the Metaverse, which meant he couldn’t even use it to tell the time. The “no signal” sign flashed in the corner, meaning messages were also a no. The Metaverse app wasn’t even on the phone anymore, having most likely disappeared during the time he deactivated his phone. It probably had something to do with the Phantom Thieves in the real world.

Goro shook his head. He had no idea what he was expecting. Some messages, from people who most likely wanted nothing more to do with him? From Sae, who should be trying to arrest him for his crimes? Shido’s lackeys, who should be hunting him down?

Messages from Kurusu, who he tried to kill more than once, who had all the right to hate Goro and want him gone from his life?

He was being stupid again. Staying in this world was obviously messing with his mind, making him wish for things that had no chance of ever being reality. No, he had to focus. Stay alive, if only because nobody expected him to make it. He could have died years ago, when he was left alone to fend for himself, and he was alive after being shot. Fuck destiny. They can’t get rid of him.

His eyes turned to the piece of paper in his free hand. This one seemed like it was taken from some sort of school newspaper, but the content was interesting, to put it simply. A murder in a some town out in the country, the victim a student of the local school. It seemed rather dated, which caught his interest. He stumbled upon old articles every now and then, but they were rare.

So far, Goro had only used recent news (or what seemed recent to him, anyway). He had no idea what would happen if he took used something from years ago. He didn’t know if it mattered. For all he knew, it didn’t, and he would just be taken to the location the event took place in, but if his hunch was right and he could actually be taken back in time — or perhaps a reflection of things back then — what would happen? There were so many things about the nature of this world he still didn’t understand.

He opened his bag and placed the rest of the news articles in there, taking out the one about the hotel. If all else failed, then he could just return to the hotel. Haunted or not, the beds were comfy. He folded that one carefully and put it in his pocket before reaching for the remote and turning the TV on. He flicked through the channels until he found one that was all static.

He closed his eyes and focused on the contents of the sheet of paper in his hands. Something that big was bound to get coverage on television.

Sure enough, the static was quickly replaced by a news station, the lady on screen reciting the details she had been given about the case. It was several years ago, as Goro predicted, shown by the date on the corner of the screen. Goro stood and approached the TV, waiting until the camera switched to a clip of the town.

Not giving himself much time to question himself, Goro climbed into the TV and passed through to the town on the other side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops. It's been what, over a month? Sorry, life happened, kicked me around, and then this chapter refused to cooperate. I'm still not fully happy with it, but I wanted this thing to get updated before next year, so here you go. Hopefully once we get past all the information and such this thing will agree with me more. If you're still here, thanks, I appreciate it!


	4. Pieces in Position

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little note, I ended up rewriting the previous chapter because it was bugging me that much. No story details were changed though, so you don't have to reread it if you don't want to.

Morgana had stopped protesting whenever Akira would randomly shove him into his bag while they were at school. It wasn’t really random, Morgana knew. Akira would always start walking faster after, away from whoever he was avoiding that time. It didn’t take much for Morgana to notice that it was always from a specific group of students, and it wasn’t hard to figure out that they probably used to be close either, though Morgana had no idea what exactly happened between them. No matter how hard he pushed, Akira continued to refuse to tell him what was going on.

One of those friends, Morgana knew, was the kind-looking girl they met on Akira’s first day, the one in his class. After about a week, she had stopped trying to approach him in class, but Morgana knew they still kept an eye on each other. He was under Akira’s desk most of the time after all, how could he not?

Morgana frowned and looked up at Akira. The boy was staring out the window, _again_. Not only had Akira been growing more secretive since they moved to his hometown, but he had been growing more and more unfocused lately. It wasn’t to say that Akira always paid attention to his classes in Tokyo, but he never spaced out this much before. The teacher was talking loudly, but Akira’s mind was obviously everywhere but in the classroom. He wasn’t even trying hard to make it look like he was paying attention, and Morgana knew that Akira didn’t enjoy people thinking he was a delinquent.

If Morgana was a human, he’d be attempting to tear his hair out. So many things stopped making sense. He hated the fact that Akira was slowly shutting him out and there was nothing he could do to help. It was his friends, it had to be. If Morgana at least knew what the problem was, then maybe he could find something to do, but Akira wouldn’t tell him and it wasn’t like there were any other people there who could understand him.

He wished, not for the first time, that he was human. He’d grown used to his feline form, but times like these it made him resent it.

Morgana glanced up again and pushed down a groan, though he was quite sure Akira’s classmates knew about him already and just didn’t mention it. Akira had gone from staring out the window to tapping away on his phone. Morgana shook his head and pushed away the annoyance, sadness quickly filling up the space instead. Akira missed his friends, and Morgana did too, so he couldn’t blame his friend for constantly trying to talk to them. Especially when it made him look so much happier.

The bell rang and Akira stuffed his phone into his pocket before putting his books away. Morgana watched him. That was it. He was going to do something.

“Akira!” Morgana said, jumping down to the floor. “I’m going to explore. Staying under your desk is boring.” And stuffy, after awhile. If it weren’t for the fact that he was constantly worried about him, Morgana would be exploring the town.

Akira blinked in surprise, hands frozen in midair from when he was taking out his lunch. “You’re skipping your tuna?” He whispered back.

Ah, tuna. Delicious, heavenly tuna. Akira was pampering him a lot lately. It made their stay in the quiet town so much nicer. Maybe he could stay for a little and — no! He couldn’t delay things any further. “Later! I have business to attend to!”

“Right.” Akira chuckled and shot him a smirk. “Don’t let anyone kick you out of school.”

“Please! Stop insulting my skills.”

And with that, Morgana strutted out of the classroom, the beginnings plan forming in his mind. He may not be able to directly talk to people, but being a cat did have it perks. Morgana carefully constructed his plan and hid himself, waiting for that increasingly familiar girl to leave the class. He had been paying attention, of course, and he knew that she usually left around… there!

Morgana smelled her before he actually saw her. Natsume Mori had a distinct scent; earthy but fresh, it reminded him a little of Haru, though less flowery. _This_ girl smelled more like summer, all crisp like freshly cut grass and just a bit of rain. It made it easy for him to spot her, even easier to follow her through the crowded hallways, down the stairs and out the classroom building. Eventually she settled down by the foot of a large tree, the area full of plants that she probably spent a lot of time taking care of. Morgana waited for more people to arrive, but to his surprise, she just took out her lunch and started eating, not appearing to wait for anyone. He waited anyway, but nobody showed up.

This was interesting. He had thought she’d be good friends with the other students Akira avoided a lot, but that may not be the case. One lunch isn’t enough for him to draw conclusions yet, though. Well, either way it made his job easier.

Morgana slowly entered her line of sight, making sure he looked like he was a random cat just wandering around. Mori looked up and her eyes widened in surprise, but she smiled gently at him. He turned to her and stared at her for a little before approaching and standing by her feet. She reached out her free hand — ugh, to pet him — but he stayed still, letting her pet his head. He even purred, a little. For Akira, he reminded himself.

“Aww, you’re so sweet.” She laughed. Morgana meowed back at her. “You’re A — Kurusu-kun’s cat, aren’t you? Why are you all the way out here on your own?”

He obviously couldn’t answer, so he just meowed again and flopped onto the ground, gaining another small laugh from the girl. “Well, as long as you go back to him, I guess. He probably needs your company,” she added, smile fading away from her face.

Ah. There it is. Mori continued to eat, but that little admission only further solidified Morgana’s suspicions. Morgana meowed again, trying to urge her into telling him more. “What happened?” He questioned, knowing she won’t understand him anyway.

“Are you mad at me for leaving him?” Mori muttered after a moment of silence, though Morgana doubted the question was actually meant for him. She sighed and put down her chopsticks. “He’s not wrong to be. We messed up. Our parents didn’t want us hanging around a delinquent, but it’s not like we tried very hard to find out what actually happened. Should have known better, huh?”

She started packing up her lunch, but not before taking out a piece of fish and offering it to him. He took it because, well, she offered, and he did skip out on food to go out there. “Nothing’s really been the same since. Akira-kun does have a way with people.” She paused and smiled again. “Cats too, I guess.”

Mori scratched him behind an ear before getting to her feet. “Don’t get lost, okay, little kitty?”

Morgana watched her walk away, and he could have followed her. He was investigating for Akira’s sake, so he wouldn’t have to see his friend all distant any longer. He told himself this, but it still felt like he was invading Akira’s privacy, like his past was something Morgana wasn’t supposed to see. Not yet, anyway. So he walked back to class instead, jumping onto Akira’s lap and back under his desk.

“You’re back already,” Akira noted, putting down his phone. “What, a small town’s high school too boring for you to explore?”

“I want my tuna,” Morgana demanded instead of answering, earning him a smile and a soft shake of Akira’s head.

“Of course you came back for food. Geez, you realize you’re basically being a freeloader now, right?” Akira took his food out anyway, of course, slipping Morgana a piece of delicious, wonderful tuna. “What am I supposed to do with you?”

Natsume Mori didn’t enter class until right before the bell rang, and Morgana didn’t fail to notice how Akira glanced up with a small frown. Morgana couldn’t let it be, he knew. He had to help his friend no matter what, but he might not be able to do that alone.

* * *

**Akira:** So how’s school been for you?

**Futaba:** eh. fine. kinda boring?

**Futaba:** unless ryuji’s doing something stupid!! Which is a lot! So yay!

**Makoto:** I’m glad to hear that Ryuji and Ann are taking care of you

**Ryuji:** thats one way to put it… I feel like im there for her to make fun of me

**Akira:** Like she said. Taking care of Futaba.

**Yusuke:** Making sure she’s happy is part of taking care of her, in a sense

**Ann:** Well, yeah! We can’t just let our teammate be unhappy

**Ann:** Plus it’s the only year we’ll be at school together! Gotta make it count

**Haru:** Ah yes, the four of you will be graduating next year, right?

**Makoto:** As long as none of them gets into any big trouble. Right?

**Haru:** That would be most unfortunate…

**Makoto:** Then good thing it won’t happen.

**Ryuji:** …joker help

**Ann:** um

**Yusuke:** Joker?

**Akira:** read 2 minutes ago

**Ryuji:** is this gonna be a thing

**Ryuji:** dude you can’t just keep abandoning me like this

**Futaba:** I mean, he’s in a whole other town

**Yusuke:** So if Makoto does come after you…

**Ann:** He won’t be able to help.

**Ryuji:** WHY ARE YOU ALL GANGING UP ON ME

* * *

Morgana had been quieter since he’d wandered off during lunch time. Although he did come back for tuna, so it was probably just boredom and Akira being paranoid. He wouldn’t blame his friend for being bored, really. His hometown wasn’t large by any means, and even so the only places they’ve really gone to were home, school, Junes, and back home. Akira was doing it to avoid any unwanted confrontations, but he hadn’t asked Morgana how he felt at all.

“Mona?” Akira asked as they sat down at their regular spot in the foodcourt after ordering food. He pulled out his textbooks and flipped to the chapter he was last reading. “Wanna explore town with me tomorrow? I’m getting a bit tired of staying in all weekend, and you haven’t really looked around, right?”

Morgana poked his head out of the bag, looking strangely pleased. “About time! I was wondering if I was going to have to sneak out of your house!” He announced. “Well, you better take me to some nice spots.”

Making demands already. “Of course. Only the best. We’ll send pictured to the others and make them all jealous.”

Mona’s eyes widened before he nodded enthusiastically. “Make sure to show Lady Ann!” He commanded. “I’m sure she must be missing my presence. Her and all the others, obviously. It just wouldn’t be the same for them without me being there. Ryuji, for example, he’d definitely…”

Without really meaning to, Akira found himself no longer focusing on Morgana’s words, thinking instead of his friends. Futaba was going to school again. Both Ryuji and Ann said she was doing well, but he hadn’t heard details from the girl herself. Makoto and Haru were in college, and Yusuke was also in his final year of high school. They all talked constantly, but it just wasn’t the same as being able to actually see them. If they were here, they’d gather around the table and be really loud, probably. Akira wouldn’t get any actual studying done.

He never did get much studying done when he went to Junes with his friends though, but he doubted anyone did. Large groups of teenagers never get much actual work done when gathered in one place.

“Yo!” A familar voice called our, breaking him out of his thoughts and stopping Morgana’s tangent.

“You’ve been spending a whole lot of time here,” Hanamura said, placing a tray of sushi in front of Akira and sliding into the seat across him. “Not that it’s a bad thing or anything, I’d never turn away a customer, but…” His eyes flickered off to the side, fingers drumming against his thigh.

Akira et Morgana jump onto the table to eat his sushi. He let out a soft exhale. It would be kind of mean if he forced Hanamura to continue. “I like studying here,” he said, pointing at the textbook on the table, opened to a chapter they hadn’t even started studying in class. “Besides, most people would hesitate before hanging out with a delinquent, especially one who had to get sent away for a whole year, even if he was arrested on false charges.”

Hanamura winced and offered him a small smile. “Still?” he asked, watching Akira shrug and pretend to focus to his textbook. “Y’know, if it means anything, if they can’t let it go even after finding out it’s a lie, then they’re probably not worth your time.”

“Thanks,” Akira muttered, keeping his eyes on his textbook. Morgana looked back and forth between the two. Hanamura opened his mouth again, ready to continue talking, when out of nowhere, a blond-haired blur crashed into him. Akira’s eyes widened as he watched Hanamura tumble to the ground, an unfamiliar foreign-looking young man on top of him. Wait, maybe not that unfamiliar. Akira vaguely remembered seeing the blond boy hanging around Hanamura around the store before…

“Teddie, what the heck!” Hanamura yelled, pushing the other person off him. “Can’t you see I’m with a customer right now?! I told you not to do these kinds of things!”

Teddie quickly got up and pulled Hanamura to his feet, looking extremely upset. “It’s an emergency! Yosuke, we have to go right now! It’s the TV World, something’s not—!” He suddenly stopped and looked around before zeroing in on both Akira and Morgana. He squinted at them and leaned it, making both feel increasingly uncomfortable. He sniffed the air around them. “You two…”

“Okay, that’s enough! Don’t scare off the customers!” Hanamura pulled Teddie back and smiled apologetically at Akira. “Sorry about that, hope he didn’t spook your cat. I’ll just take him away now.” He quickly dragged his friend away, the two of them whispering at each other and occasionally glancing back at Akira and Morgana.

Akira blinked a couple of times, not quite sure what to make of the display. He eventually laughed and shook his head, dismissing it as the kind of bizarreness friends get into sometimes. He turned to Morgana to ask him about it, but found the cat staring intently at the two men with a serious look in his eyes. “Mona, is something wrong?” He asked, feeling a little uneasy.

Morgana stayed silent for a moment, visibly hesitating. “Akira, you can still use your Third Eye ability right?” Morgana finally asked, which caught Akira off-guard. He hadn’t really thought about those things since the entire business with Yaldabaoth ended, with the Metaverse gone and everything. But that particular ability was one he could use in the real world, so maybe he should still be able to use it. No, he _could_. He knew that.

He nodded. Akira closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings. In his mind, he reached for his ability. It was right there, just waiting for him, and Akira opened his eyes with a grin. The world was dimmed, the sounds around him turned down, but he could _see._ He could see Morgana, a bright beacon of light, the Magician card in the air above him. He could see a faint outline of Zorro above him, ever-present in Morgana’s heart.

Another bright light caught his attention, and Akira found his sights on Hanamura and Teddie, both glowing in the dimmed world, the light faintly yellow. Cards floated above the both, the Star above Teddie and Magician above Yosuke. Even stranger, the two had the same faint shapes above them, the shapes Akira had grown to associate with…

Akira quickly shut his eyes, unable to make sense of what he was seeing. A Magician and a Star, but he already _had_ a Magician and a Star. He could have seen wrong, but his ability never lead him wrong before. He knew what he saw. Somehow, for some reason, those two were Persona users.

Akira was on his feet before he could say anything, his body moving ahead of his mind. He shoved his books back into his bag, much to Morgana’s confusion. “Akira, what did you see?” the cat asked, jumping into Akira’s bag.

“We’re following them,” Akira said, already walking in the direction Hanamura went. Teddie had mentioned something about a TV, so he quickly went towards the electronics section, his heart beating quickly. He had no idea what was pushing him to do this. Why he was so eager to jump back into the Persona business. He had ended things, he knew that, and yet here he was, walking towards danger again.

He missed this, he realized. His friends weren’t the only thing he missed from Tokyo. Sure, they were a big part of his life, still are, but he also had the Metaverse. The rush that came with infiltrating Palaces, exploring Mementos, fighting Shadows.

Morgana was silent, but he must have noticed the look on Akira’s face, because the cat looked quietly determined, letting Akira lead the way through the store. Junes was a large department store, but like many other kids and teenagers in the town, Akira had spent a lot of time going there for pretty much anything, and the duo found themselves facing a wall full of television, but neither Hanamura or his excitable friend was anywhere to be seen.

“Did we lose them?” Akira asked, sounding more disappointed than he wanted to be. It wasn’t a good idea, jumping back into danger, but as much as he hated to admit it, being in his hometown was driving Akira a little crazy. It was so quiet and he could only find so many things to do in his free time, especially if he wanted to avoid his past at the same time.

“Akira…” Morgana muttered. He tone was soft, but he sounded concerned, so Akira shot him a smile. It didn’t do much. “Were they really?” He faltered at the end.

Akira nodded. He was sure of it. “I saw,” he replied, recalling the impossibly bright lights the two had. Stronger than the ones his friends had, but they felt different too. Like they were something Akira had never encountered before. Either way, that might explain why he was drawn to Junes. From experience, he knew he’d always be pulled towards those connected with Personas.

Morgana made a soft contemplative noise. “Do you want to talk to them?”

“No.” They didn’t have to, not now. Akira knew he couldn’t jump into this blindly. There had to be a reason, if something involving Personas was happening, and he’d rather know what that was first. “They won’t be hard to find.”

“Okay,” Mona agreed. “Do you want to tell the others?”

He should. He really should, tell the others so they could investigate it properly, but he didn’t want to. Didn’t want to get them involved, didn’t want to trouble them, didn’t want them to take this from him. Not yet, anyway. Akira shook his head.

“Okay.”

* * *

Goro was slowly regretting all his decisions yet again. Wherever the hell he was, it had to be the most unnerving place by far. The TV dumped him into a large space of nothing at first, so he walked with no destination in mind, until he finally got to a place that resembled a town. The walking around aimlessly part wasn’t anything new, but the fact that he could barely see at first, and the appearance of the area he eventually walked into was unusual.

The place almost looked like a normal small town, safe for the unnaturally red sky and thick yellow fog seemingly covering every inch of the place. The fact that he could barely see any of the ever-present water on the streets made him uneasy, which was concerning, to say the least. It made him want to run away as quickly as possible, and he hadn’t even seen any Shadows.

_It’s a part of the collective unconscious, you could say. A little like your Metaverse._

Could it be? A _part_ of the collective unconscious, Ryoji had said. It might be possible that the world of human consciousness has multiple layers to it, and both the world he was in and the Metaverse were simply a part of it. If so, the reason for the strangeness of this place…

It wasn’t time to think about it. Goro shook his head and kept walking. Shadows or not, he knew it couldn’t be safe to linger. There had to be something wrong with this place if it was setting him off that badly. He glanced around, taking in the area. The road was lined with shops on either side, though many of them appear to be closed. Not even any of the humanoid Shadows in them.

Well, Goro thought to himself, shops usually meant news. And a shopping district usually had some form of public transportation in it, so he could just find one of those and get out. That was a decent plan. Better than sticking around, anyway, because that was definitely out.

Goro continued walking with his hand around his gun, ready to attack at the first sign of danger, but the street remained stubbornly empty. He checked the stores, all closed and quiet. It was slowly driving him crazy. The fog felt bad, too. It wasn’t really bothering him in any physical way, but he remembered reading about weapons, poisonous fog that shared characteristics with the one he was currently in. All the more reason to get out fast.

He started walking faster, no longer even looking at the shops. Transportation, he told himself. A way out. He repeated that, over and over in his mind. His surroundings blurred away, until he stopped abruptly, the sight in front of him momentarily freezing him.

“What the fuck,” Goro cursed, staring at the body hanging from an antenna in front of him. Of course. This had to be what the article was about. The murdered school girl.

A humorless laugh left his mouth, because wasn’t it just great that he was more surprised at seeing a human body than the fact that it was a corpse hanging on wires. That should be disturbing. What kind of sick, messed up bastard would kill someone and display a dead body out for everyone to see like that? Just murder was messed up enough already, so why wasn’t _that_ the part he was surprised by?

Goro’s eyes closed briefly, but it was still too long. He heard rustling, inhuman noises, and when he opened his eyes again, he was surrounded by Shadows. They were strange, circular creatures floating in the air, with a pair of lips and tongues sticking out. They would look almost comical, if Goro didn’t know that in his current state, they could still very much be capable of killing him.

This time, there would be no Persona awakening to miraculously save him. No Robin Hood with a blazing arrow to blast away the Shadows, no Loki to cut through them.

Fine.

Goro struck first. He pulled the trigger multiple times, shooting at each of the Shadows before switching to his saber and rushing at the Shadow closest to him, slicing through its body. The Shadow faded away into nothingness, but the others quickly closed in after that. He caught them by surprise, but it wouldn’t last forever, and he was still sorely outnumbered. Without his Personas, he could only take down one Shadow at a time, and more could appear.

It didn’t matter. He didn’t have to get rid of them all. Just enough for him to get an opening and run. He gritted his teeth and got ready to attack again, but one of the Shadows attacked him, forcing him to roll to the side to avoid it. Goro quickly retaliated, running and said Shadow and successfully landing a hit, quickly followed by a round of blasts from his gun.

He ducked to avoid another attack and got ready to strike again when a blast of energy hit the Shadows, obliterating all of them. A Megidolaon, he realized, recognizing the move. But from what?

He turned around, heart beating rapidly in his chest, and found himself facing a winged figure dressed in red and black, fire burning behind its smiling face. A Persona. Kurusu’s Persona. Here, in this world with him, somehow. The Persona bowed to him, amusement somehow radiating off him despite his expression remaining unchanged, before fading away.

Goro’s breath caught in his throat. Akira Kurusu stood before him, smiling wryly at Goro. He didn’t look much different from when Goro last saw him, except he was in normal clothing. His glasses weren’t present, and he wore a uniform Goro didn’t recognize, but it was undeniably him, which really mean several things. Goro was finally going insane, the world was capable of making very convincing illusions, or somehow, he was actually seeing Kurusu.

“Why are you here?” Kurusu asked, the intensity of his voice betraying the nonchalant expression he had on his face.

Honestly, he had no idea. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” He shot back, refusing to be the one being interrogated.

Kurusu just shrugged, annoyingly (and quite familiarly) dismissive. “I live here,” he said. “Not here, here, I guess, but close enough.” His smile faltered, and he twisted a section of his bangs, a habit Goro remembered from when he was with the Phantom Thieves. “Are you really alive?” He asked, seeming incredibly nervous all of a sudden.

Wasn’t that just something? Goro’s mind had to be real creative if he was the one coming up with Kurusu being there. Did he want someone to care for him that desperately? It had to be fake, he decided. Kurusu was taking it far too casually for any of this to be real.

“You didn’t use your Persona,” Kurusu continued, and why was he being so talkative now? Kurusu shook his head. “Personas, I guess.”

“I can’t,” Goro admitted, because there was no point in lying to an illusion, and it felt nice to say it to something other than himself. “They’re not… I can’t call them.”

Kurusu frowned. “Shouldn’t you be getting out of here, then?” He looked up at the hanging corpse, seemingly unfazed by it. “Things weren’t safe, when all this happened,” he added. “Everyone was on edge. Besides, you were attacked.”

Goro scoffed. As if he couldn’t figure out that much. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do. I don’t suppose you know where I might find, say, a station?”

“That way.” Kurusu pointed at the direction Goro had been walking in. “A train station. Just keep going, north side of the shopping district, past the shops.” He paused, as if considering something. “You gonna get on a train to Tokyo?”

“I suppose.” That was what he had been planning, to get to this world’s Tokyo and find a way to the real world from there. “Nowhere for me to go really, but there’s nothing else for me in any other place either, so why not go back?”

Kurusu didn’t answer him directly, not that Goro expected him too. It was a rhetorical question. “You should see Niijima-san. Sae’s still looking for you, I think.” To put him behind bars, clearly. “Makoto’s not sharing all the details, but I’m pretty sure she’s actually worried about you.”

Goro rolled his eyes and started walking in the direction Kurusu pointed at. There goes his mind again, craving to be wanted. It was pointless to keep talking to Kurusu, but in the end, the boy followed him to the train station, saying something about how he wanted to make sure no Shadows attacked Goro. Normally, Goro would be insulted, but at that point, he couldn’t even bother.

Neither of them said anything after that. They walked side by side in silence, Kurusu in his clean uniform with a hands casually shoved into his pockets, and Goro, in an outfit worn out by battles with a gun gripped tightly in his hands. Goro half-expected Kurusu to start spouting random facts about the town he supposedly lived in, but all he did was walk him to the station. He didn’t say anything when Goro entered the station, just watched him from the street.

Inside, Goro sat down on one of the benches and pulled his mask off. Without it, the fog seemed thicker, his view growing blurry, but he didn’t care. He put his face in his hands and exhaled. Just a moment would be fine. Just a moment.

* * *

“So, I guess it ended up being nothing?” Yosuke asked, walking with Teddie back to his house. The blonde had said he sensed something wrong with the TV World and dragged him in to investigate, but neither of them could find anything unusual. Teddie dragged him all the way to Saki-senpai’s section of the world too, insisting that this was where he felt a disturbance.

Teddie was jumpy the entire time, being even louder than usual with his unending chatter. He kept saying that he felt something wrong, and that it should be right there, but neither of them could spot whatever it was, so they ended up leaving.

Yosuke was tired. It took up a good chunk of his afternoon, and Teddie basically scared off Akira-kun too… “Hey, Teddie! Stop spacing out, you were the one who said something wasn’t right!” He snapped his fingers in front of Teddie’s face. “Is this about his cat again?”

“It’s not normal,” Teddie suddenly said, pushing Yosuke’s hand away with a surprisingly serious look on his face. “I’m telling you, it didn’t smell like a cat!” He cried out. “It smelled like… a little like a Shadow?”

He blinked. Twice. “Akira-kun’s cat…” he started slowly, trying to get the absurdity of it get through to Teddie. “The one who does nothing but steal sushi off his plate, is a Shadow? I said it didn’t make sense before, and it still doesn’t! Are you sure there’s nothing wrong with your nose?”

Teddie spluttered indignantly. “My nose is fine!” He insisted. “I’m sure of it. It’s not a normal cat.”

Yosuke sighed. Guess he couldn’t just brush it off if Teddie was that upset about it. “Okay, let’s say it’s not. Why would a Shadow even be in the real world, though? And why would it pretend to be Akira-kun’s cat? He brought him back from Tokyo, so he must have found him there.” Yosuke paused, going over the day’s events once more. “What, you can’t be thinking it has something to do with the TV World acting up!”

“But Yosuke,” Teddie drew out the name, tugging on Yosuke’s arm. “It can’t just be a coincidence, that a kid with a not-from-this-world cat showed up _just_ as I felt something.”

Yosuke groaned, knowing that his friend wasn’t going to let it go anytime soon. The cat was just a cat, for god’s sake. Why would Akira be involved with Shadows in any way? Sure, the TV World wasn’t the only place with Shadows, but Akira was (unfairly put) on probation all year long. Still, when Teddie said there was something going on, it was usually true, even if Yosuke doubted it had anything to do with Akira and his apparently not real cat.

“Fine. Let’s meet up with Chie, Yukiko, and Kanji, then talk this out, yeah? That’s what the Investigation Team is for, after all,” Yosuke said, already pulling out his phone. “If we can’t figure it out, we’ll bring in the rest of the team. Mitsuru-san and the Shadow Operatives, if we have to.”

“And we’ll tell them about the cat.” Wow, Teddie was really hung up about that cat. “I think it’s important.”

“And we’ll tell them about the cat,” Yosuke echoed with a roll of his eyes. He glanced at his phone. Both Kanji and Chie were available, so they could just to to Yukiko at the inn. Well, it couldn’t hurt to see his friends, and if there was something going on with the TV World, then they would need to take care of it anyway.

Teddie peeked at the screen and visibly lit up, pumping a fist into the air. “Well, let’s go then! To the Amagi Inn!”

* * *

Akira peeled himself off the desk, rubbing absently at his eyes. He checked the clock on his desk. He was asleep for awhile, but it wasn’t. He shook the sleep away and got up, stretching out his arms as he looked for Morgana. The cat was perched on the windowsill by the bed, staring at the quiet neighborhood.

“Hey,” Akira said, dropping down onto the bed. “Why didn’t you wake me?” Sure, Morgana was always nagging him about getting enough sleep, but it didn’t seem like he’d let Akira just fall asleep on his desk either.

Morgana jumped off the windowsill and laid down on the bed. “You looked tired. I figured you’d wake up anyway, so I let you be,” he explained. “And I was right.”

Akira let out a quiet chuckle and shifted to make himself more comfortable, causing Morgana to complain about him moving around too much. Akira’s eyes fluttered shut, and the first thing that came to mind was Hanamura and his friend, along with their incredibly bright auras. Persona-users, but somehow different, and Morgana didn’t know much about it either.

Would Lavenza know? Igor most likely did, though Akira was sure he wouldn’t tell him either, but he wondered how much the young attendant knew. He hoped Lavenza was doing well. He hadn’t seen her in ages, since the whole deal with Yaldabaoth officially ended.

Ah. Then there was the other thing.

Akira reached for his bag and took out his phone, tapping on the messaging out. The actions came easily to him, pulling up the chatroom and typing out a message to add to the many, many others. He couldn’t bring himself to say what he wanted to, sending instead a random observation about his town, but it was enough to calm him down a little.

“Hey Morgana,” Akira called out, preparing to verbalize his other question. “Is it possible for a Persona user to stop being able to call their Persona? Like, if they lost it or something.”

“Where did this come from?” Morgana asked back, moving closer to curl up at his side. “But I don’t think it’s possible to lose a Persona. It comes from your heart, a manifestation of your self, so it’s basically a part of you, and I don’t think you can just lose a part of yourself like that.” His eyes widened. “Although, I guess, if you were to lose sight of your true self, it’s possible that you could be blocked from your Personas too. I’ve never heard of anything like it happening, though.”

Akira hummed softly, storing the information away. “The thought just… popped into my head and wouldn’t leave,” he lied. “I got curious.”

Morgana frowned and studied Akira carefully. “So it’s not like you suddenly feel your Persona missing?”

He quickly shook his head, not wanting his friend to get worried over a stupid dream that he had. “Nah, I can feel em right here,” he said, tapping on the side of his head. “Besides, it’s not like we’re gonna need our Personas anytime soon.”

“I guess so,” Morgana muttered. “Anyway! I know you just woke up, but you really do look exhausted. You should go to sleep.”

Akira had a feeling that this wasn’t the end of the conversation, but he took the offered exit gratefully. “Alright. I’ll go get ready for bed.”

* * *

The blue haired boy stared out the window absently, sitting on top of his bed. It was his room, today. He liked keeping it like that, since the familiarity of it usually did a good job of calming him down. The music beating through his headphones helped too, but it didn’t distract him from the presence entering his room.

He didn’t get visitors very often, after all.

“Are you meddling?” The girl said, standing by the door with her hands clasped behind her back. “I know we’ve never met personally, but I wasn’t aware you had the ability to do that.”

The boy just shrugged. He didn’t really want to have this conversation, but he knew she didn’t do anything wrong. He couldn’t blame her or the others of any of their situations, only the people and beings who thought it would be fun to mess around with reality. He slipped his headphones off, letting them hang around his neck. She had to be worried.

“It’s not me,” he answered truthfully. He may have had a part in it, but he wasn’t the one who actually did it. “I can only get to one of them, after all. Besides,” he turned to give her a knowing look. “You don’t like this either, do you?”

The girl’s eyes widened and she took a step back, looking away from him. “I need to do my job. His role isn’t done yet, and I won’t fail him. So I would appreciate it if you’d stop keeping me from getting to him.”

“Then you know that _he_ plays a part in all this too.” The boy’s one visible eye seemed to glow in the dark, seeing right through the girl.

The girl bit her lip. She didn’t have an answer to that, not a suitable one that didn’t mean betraying her feelings or her duty. On the bed, the boy sighed and got up, placing a hand on her head. When she looked up, his eyes looked softer.

“We can’t stop what will happen. But we can, make it easier for them,” he said. He liked her. Perhaps it was because she was so young and not yet bound by rules, but she cared. “That’s all we’re trying to do.”

She stepped away from him, he gaze cast to the floor. “So you don’t know where he is. Very well. I hope you have a good day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I call this chapter "jumping around POVs with no restraint", because it was supposed to be just Akira or Goro, but that's obviously not what actually happened. More questions slowly form, and we're getting closer to all the action. We got to spend a little time with the lovely Junes duo, and hear from the dead boy, but Morgana is still very worried. Either way, I hope you all enjoyed this, and thanks for sticking around and putting up with the slow updates. I appreciate it very much!
> 
> Next up: Morgana does detective work, so does the Investigation Team, we hear from yet more people, and Goro continues to be tired of everything.


	5. Not an update, sorry.

Hi there, Reefa here! I've abandoned this fic for quite awhile, haven't I? Sorry for that. Ahem, anyway, I'm not gonna waste time explaining exactly why I was gone, outside of life happening and kicking my ass, so I'll get straight to it:

I won't be abandoning this fic. I told myself I would finish it, I have pretty much the whole plot planned out, and I am planning on updating this. I love these boys, this universe and it's characters, I don't want to leave them behind.

However, I've come to the conclusion that I shouldn't be trusted with posting a multi chapter fic while it's still in progress. Because I have the plot planned out, when I write multichaptered stuff, I tend to not write in order, which makes it kinda hard for me to post because sometimes I'll have stuff really late in the story all done while the earlier events are still unwritten.

With that in mind, I've decided to put this thing on hiatus, until I pretty much finish writing the first draft of it. That way, I can post the chapters regularly as I edit them. I'll probably end up rewriting the previous chapters too.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience, and here's a thank you for reading and for if you plan on sticking around. I'll delete this and post the actual chapters once I'm done (which, at the current rate I'm writing, should be done sometime in January).

That's it for now! See you hopefully not too long from now.


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